Multi-pole vacuum switching apparatus

ABSTRACT

A vacuum switching apparatus includes at least two switching vessels arranged side by side and operable by an actuator device. Insulating partitions are situated between the switching vessels and are formed by insulator members which each enclose a switching vessel and are arranged side by side with a spacing therebetween. One application of the invention is in three-phase vacuum contractors for voltages of up to about 10 kV.

United States Patent I [191 witflvmmcm Frewe et al.

[4 1 July 15,1975

MULTI-POLE VACUUM SWITCHING APPARATUS Inventors: Wolfgang Frewe;Hans-Jurgen Lendt, both of Berlin, Germany Siemens Aktiengesellschaft,Munich, Germany Filed: Mar. 1, 1973 App]. No.: 337,177

Assignee:

Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 6, 1972 Germany 2211413 US. Cl200/144 B; 200/144 R; 200/305 Int. Cl. H0lh 33/66 Field of Search200/144 B, 168 R, 166 L,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1967 Roxburgh et al 200/144 B3,440,378 4/1969 Baird 200/144 R 3,560,682 2/1971 Kohler et a1. 200/144R 3,684,849 8/1972 Zubaty 200/144 R Primary ExaminerRobert S. MaconAttorney, Agent, or FirmKenyon & Kenyon Reilley Carr & Chapin A vacuumswitching apparatus includes at least two switching vessels arrangedside by side and operable by an actuator device. Insulating partitionsare situated between the switching vessels and are formed by insulatormembers which each enclose a switching vessel and are arranged side byside with a spacing therebetween. One application of the invention is inthree-phase vacuum contractors for voltages of up to ABSTRACT about 10kV.

4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENIEDJ L m5 3.895; 199

SHEET 1 Pmim'fimm 1 1915 3 8 95; 199 SHEET 2 Fig. 2 121 42 2019MULTI-POLE VACUUM SWITCHING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1.Field of the Invention The present invention relates to multi-polevacuum switching apparatus, and more particularly to such apparatushaving switching vessels arranged side by side and operated by anactuator device, with a partition of insulating material situatedbetween the switching vessels.

2. Description of the Prior Art Vacuum switching apparatus is known toprovide, among other things, the advantage of smaller dimensions whencompared with other switch gear, particularly switch gear havingcontacts operating in air. In the switching apparatus presently known,however, the space saving is not as great as the small dimensions of thevacuum vessels themselves would lead one to expect. This is caused,particularly in multi-pole switching apparatus, by the fact that asufficient insulation distance must be kept between the external,voltagecarrying parts of the switching vessels. It is already known toarrange partitions of insulating material between the vacuum switchingvessels of multi-pole vacuum switch gear. These partitions make itpossible to reduce the distance between the switching vessels to acertain extent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toprovide multi-pole vacuum switching apparatus with minimum spacingbetween the switching vessels.

It is another object to provide multi-pole vacuum switching apparatushaving adequate leakage paths between the apparatus parts.

These and other objects are achieved by the present invention whichincludes a vacuum switching apparatus having at least two switchingvessels arranged side by side and operable by an actuator device.Insulating partitions are situtated between the switching vessels andare formed by insulator members which each enclose a switching vesseland are arranged side by side with a spacing therebetween. Oneapplication of the invention is in three-phase vacuum contractors forvoltages of up to about kV.

According to the invention, insulator members forming the partitionseach enclose a switching vessel and are arranged side by side withspacing. The spacing of the switching vessels can thereby be reduced toan extent which cannot be made smaller because of the prescribed minimumspacings between the connecting bars of the switching equipment.Essential here is the gap remaining between the insulating members,which particularly contributes to an increase of the leakage paths.

The insulator members can be provided with ribs in order to createadditional leakage paths. The insulator members can furthermore be madeof U-shaped design and attached with their center part to a supportingstructural part of the switching apparatus. With this design of theinsulator members, the switching vessels are enclosed on almost allsides, except for the open front side of the insulator members. Theactuator device of the switching apparatus can be located in a box-likehousing to which the insulator members are attached, the membersdesigned to overhang the housing with ribbed ends. Overall, leakagepaths of such length are achieved whereby the spacings of the switchingvessels can be reduced to less than one-half, as compared to knownarrangements.

Passage openings, accessible from the front, can be formed throughdrawn-in bosses in the sidewalls of the insulator members for thefastening elements of the insulator members. The attachment points arethereby located so far inward that the insulator members can be broughtclosely together down to a spacing required for the formation of theleakage paths.

For actuating each switching vessel, a lever of insulating material canbe provided which is brought through an extension of the central part ofthe insulator member and protrudes into the space between the sidewalls. An interruption of the leakage paths by metallic parts is therebyavoided. The lever of insulating material can be pivoted in the sidewalls of the insulator members. The insulator member can also be usedfor attaching the connecting bars in such a manner that the connectionpoints are provided at the upper and the lower end of each insulatormember. At the same time one obtains thereby clearly visible currentpaths which extend in the vertical direction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows a three-pole vacuumcontactor in a view onto the three switching vessels arranged side byside illustrative of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 shows a cross section through the vacuum contactor according toFIG. 1 in the region of one switching vessel.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 thereis shown a threepole vacuum contactor 1 designed for a nominal voltageof 10 kV. Three identical insulator members 2 are arranged side by sidein such a manner that there always remains a space 3 between twoadjacent insulator members. It is to be noted with respect to the FIGS.1 and 2 that identical numerals are used to indicate identical parts ofthe vacuum contactor 1. The insulator members 2 are of essentiallyU-shaped design and each enclose one switching vessel 4. For operation,i.e., for switching the switching vessels 4 on and off, there serves ineach case a lever 5 consisting of insulating material, of which only thefront end is visible in FIG. 1. Each lever 5 is pivoted in the sidewalls 6 and 7 of the associated insulator member 2 by means of a pin 10,shown in FIG. 2. The engagement points of the bearing pins 10 in theside walls 6 and 7 are covered by the cover plates 11 and 12.

The switching vessels 4 have connecting studs 13 and 14 arranged in theaxis of the switching vessel, of which the lower connecting studs 14serve at the same time for clamping each' switching vessel in astationary clamping member 8 which is connected with a connector member15. The upper connecting studs 13 are movable in the direction of theaxis of the switching vessels 4 and are connected with the lever 5 bymeans of a pin 16. The connecting studs 13 are connected by means of aflexible conductor ribbon 17 to an upper connector member 20. Theconnector members 15 and 20 are located at the upper and the lower end,respectively, of the central parts 18 of the insulator members 2 and arefastened by screws 19.

An electromagnetic actuator device 12 is schematically shown in FIG. 2and serves for operating' -the levers 5. Actuator device 21 is locatedin a box-like housing 22 consisting of sheet steel. The actuator device21 is laid out in the usual manner for operation with an auxiliaryvoltage, for example. 220 volts a.c. ln PK]. 2, a stationary magnet part23 and a movable magnet part 24 are shown, which latter part 24 is heldin the rest position shown by return springs 25. A rod 26, whichconstitutes the common drive member of the levers 5, is connected withthe movable magnet part 24. To this end, each lever engages with afork-shaped end over the rod 26. The levers 5 each extend through aringshaped extension 27 of the insulator members 2, which project intothe housing 22. The extensions 27 thereby create leakage paths betweenthe grounded housing 22 and the actuator device 21 located therein,respectively, and the high-voltage part of the contactor l, of which theswitching vessels 4 and the connecting bars 15 and 20 are a part.

As may be seen from FIG. 2, the lever 5 is swung about the bearing pinin the direction of the arrow 28 when the movable magnet part 24 ispulled down. The stud 13 of the switching vessels 4 then also moves inthe direction of the arrow 28 under the influence of the atmosphericpressure and thereby closes the contacts of the switching vessel.

The box-like housing 22 can be fastened with its wall 30 to a frame oranother support. The opposite wall 31 of the housing 22 serves as theattachment surface of the insulator members 2. For mounting, theinsulator members 2 are each provided with four drawn-in bosses, ofwhich two bosses 32 are situated at the upper end and two further bosses34 at the lower end. These drawn-in bosses extend over the depth of theside walls 6 and 7 in such a manner that in the central part 18,clamping surfaces 35 and 36, accessible from the front with a passageopening for a suitable fastening element, are generated in the directionof the arrow 33, i.e., with the usual mounting of the vacuumcontactor 1. In FIG. 1, screws 36 are shown with an internal hexagonhead as the fastening elements.

As shown in the Figures, the side walls 6 and 7 of the insulator members2 are provided on their inner sides with ribs 40. At the upper and thelower end, the insulator members 2 extend overall beyond the housing 22and overhang the same. The overhanging ends are provided with externalribs 41 and internal ribs 42. The leakage paths between the connectorelements and the housing 22 are thereby increased to the requiredlength. At the same time. a satisfactory electrical separation betweenthe low-voltage part (actuator device 21) and the high-voltage part(switching vessels 4 with the connector parts) is obtained.

It will be seen from FIG. 1 that the switching vessels 4 are arrangedside by side with relatively small spacing. Due to the accommodation ofeach switching vessel 4 in a separate insulator member 2 and theinsulator cross section which is essenU-shaped and therefore presentsthree continuous insulating surfaces, the leakage paths are increased tosuch an extent that the spacings of the connector elements and can bematched to the permissible minimum spacings. In this fashion, thesmallest possible design is achieved.

Although the above description is directed to the preferred embodimentof the invention, it is noted that other variations and modificationswill be apparent to those skilled in the art, and, therefore, may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a multi-pole vacuum switching apparatus including at least twovacuum switching vessels which are arranged side by side; an actuatordevice for operating the vacuum switching vessels; and, wherein theimprovement comprises providing at least two insulator memberscorresponding to and enclosing respective ones of said switchingvessels, said insulator members being completely independent of eachother and disposed one adjacent the other so as to conjointly define aninsulating space therebetween, said insulator members being ofapproximately U-shaped configuration and being fastened at the mid-wallthereof to the actuator device of the switching apparatus, said actuatordevice including a box-like housing, and an actuator disposed in saidhousing for actuating the vacuum switching vessels, each of saidU-shaped insulator members being mounted to said housing at saidmid-wall, each of said U-shaped insulator members having an extensionformed thereon at said mid-wall thereof, said actuator having actuatorlevers made of insulating material for corresponding ones of theswitching vessels, each of said levers being brought through saidextension of the associated insulator member so as to protrude into thespace between the side walls of the associated insulator member, theinner wall surface of each of said insulator members having ribs formedthereon, the upper and lower portions of each insulator member eachdefining an inwardly facing surface and an outwardly facing surface.each of said surfaces having ribs formed thereon, said ribbed upper andlower portions extending over said box-like housing, and conductor barsfor each of the switching vessels for respectively conducting current toand current away from the switching vessel, said conductor bars beingmounted respectively on the upper and lower portions of the associatedinsulator member.

2. The improvement of claim 1, said insulator members being mounted tosaid housing by fastening elements, the side walls of said U-shapedinsulating members being drawn-in to define passage openings forrendering said fastening elements accessible from the front side of theapparatus.

3. The improvement of claim 1 comprising a pivot pin connected betweenthe side walls of an insulator member for pivoting said lever on saidpivot pin between said side walls.

4. The improvement of claim 3, said insulator members being mounted tosaid housing by fastening elements, the side walls of said U-shapedinsulating members being drawn-in to define passage openings forrendering said fastening elements accessible from the front side of theapparatus.

1. In a multi-pole vacuum switching apparatus including at least twovacuum switching vessels which are arranged side by side; an actuatordevice for operating the vacuum switching vessels; and, wherein theimprovement comprises providing at least two insulator memberscorresponding to and enclosing respective ones of said switchingvessels, said insulator members being completely independent of eachother and disposed one adjacent the other so as to conjointly define aninsulating space therebetween, said insulator members being ofapproximately Ushaped configuration and being fastened at the mid-wallthereof to the actuator device of the switching apparatus, said actuatordevice including a box-like housing, and an actuator disposed in saidhousing for actuating the vacuum switching vessels, each of saidU-shaped insulator members being mounted to said housing at saidmid-wall, each of said U-shaped insulator members having an extensionformed thereon at said mid-wall thereof, said actuator having actuatorlevers made of insulating material for corresponding ones of theswitching vessels, each of said levers being brought through saidextension of the associated insulator member so as to protrude into thespace between the side walls of the associated insulator member, theinner wall surface of each of said insulator members having ribs formedthereon, the upper and lower portions of each insulator member eachdefining an inwardly facing surface and an outwardly facing surface,each of said surfaces having ribs formed thereon, said ribbed upper andlower portions extending over said box-like housing, and conductor barsfor each of the switching vessels for respectively conducting current toand current away from the switching vessel, said conductor bars beingmounted respectively on the upper and lower portions of the associatedinsulator member.
 2. The improvement of claim 1, said insulator membersbeing mounted to said housing by fastening elements, the side walls ofsaid U-shaped insulating members being drawn-in to define passageopenings for rendering said fastening elements accessible from the frontside of the apparatus.
 3. The improvement of claim 1 comprising a pivotpin connected between the side walls of an insulator member for pivotingsaid lever on said pivot pin between said side walls.
 4. The improvementof claim 3, said insulator members being mounted to said housing byfastening elements, the side walls of said U-shaped insulating membersbeing drawn-in to define passage openings for rendering said fasteningelements accessible from the front side of the apparatus.